5 trends from London Design Festival 2015

A guest edit by Studio Ashby.

I am delighted to welcome interior designer Sophie Ashby of Studio Ashby to Design Hunter today to share a special London Design Festival guest edit.

I first came across Sophie's work a couple of years ago. Her wonderful eye for picking out beautiful handcrafted pieces, antiques, original works of art and carefully chosen mid-century designs gives her work an eclectic richness I particularly admire.

In this guest post for Design Hunter she looks at some of the trends that were in evidence at London Design Festival this year and highlights the designs that caught her eye.

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Crafted / Made by Hand

Lost Vessel by Nic Webb in boxwood

There were some absolutely stunning objects and sculptures on show this year. At Decorex Nic Webb and Eleanor Lakelin shone through as truly talented wood turners. Taking a block of wood, shaping, hollowing and forming it into a unique and exquisitely delicate piece of art is a time consuming and age old technique. There is something overwhelming about the art of the craft, which gives each piece a really powerful presence.

Wellington Bowl by Eleanor Lakelin

The Irish ceramicist Marcus O'Mahony also exhibited some striking pieces at the Emmanuel Hooper gallery, showcasing his wheel-thrown stoneware and porcelain clays which are brought to life by the interaction of salt and wood firing in the kiln.

Three Vessels by Marcus O'Mahony

Splicing

Band collection by Bethan Gray

There was definitely a trend for splicing materials together this year. Splicing shows great technical skill and attention to detail. Bethan Gray's Band collection pairs coloured marbles with warm burnished brass to create half moon pieces - the effect is exquisite.

Band collection by Bethan Gray

The talented Lara Bohinc has designed a collection called Lunar for Lapicida and the results are beautiful. The side table in particular is a remarkable feat and harmoniously splices at least 4 diferent types of marble together, with brass banding and a minimalist pedestal tying it all together.

Lunar collection by Lara Bohinc for Lapicida

A new discover this year was Marcin Rusak. Marcin has painstakingly developed the technique of capturing dried and fresh flowers in resin and has realised the material in a series of design pieces. The resin has a transparency, which give the material a beautifully whimsical character. He has created a room divider out of his material, spliced and rearranged in an irregular pattern and the effect is gorgeous.

Flora screen by Marcin Rusak

Our friends from Amsterdam, Barn in the City, have created a cantilevered table out of their resin coated reclaimed barn wood and spliced with a marble and metal base. The table is simple and sophisticated.

Barn in the City

New Aggregates / Terrazos

Terrazzo, made from post-consumer materials like stone and glass has been around for centuries. Its sustainable credentials and affiliation with mid-century spaces worldwide has made it very fashionable at the moment and the bolder the better. Olivia Aspinall's Chip material is particularly striking with huge chunks of monochrome combinations making a serious statement whether applied to furniture or surfaces.

Olivia Aspinall

Max Lamb's collaboration with Dzek to create a designer led architectural material has been a hit sensation too and his side tables were on show this year at Decorex. The pieces skilfully balance the 15th century craft traditions with modern engineered stone technologies.

Max Lamb & Dzek

Stephanie Tudor's Jesmonite is also a really innovative, colourful material with a slightly translucent, matt patina. The New Craftsmen showcased a large slate bowl she made for part of their VIP Lounge curated space at Decorex.

Slate bowl by Stephanie Tudor

Woven Lighting

We were very happy to discover the designer Naomi Paul at LDF this year. She creates beautiful and functional textile objects from her Hackney studio. Her lights are hand crafted using yarns from a range of colours which you can choose and customise and her new wool woven collection of pendants is really original.

Naomi Paul

The textile designer and weaver Catarina Riccabona designs cushions, scarves and throws but this year collaborated with Claire Norwood from The New Craftsmen to create some pendant lights; the fine details and intricacies of her weaving techniques are literally brought to life when the light shines through the textile and the light quality is elegantly soft.

Organic Forms

At Somerset House Faye Toogood showcased the latest pieces of her 'The Drawing Room' collection. A huge floor lamp, originally designed for the infinitely stylish Hostem store in Shoreditch has been powerfully reimagined. Designed to evoke the feeling of being in a derelict country house, the chunky furniture, personal archive treasures and pieces from her 'Roly-Poly' collection are bold, slightly tongue-in-cheek and very contemporary.

Craig Jenkins has created the C12 pendant light which is a bell shaped, smooth pendant light with a smooth, matt finish and very simple form.

The Pilotis side tables in cast jesmonite by Malgorzata Bany, from The New Craftsmen are also chunky, simple and organic in form.